The pilot who safely crash-landed a US Airways flight onto New York’s Hudson River is a Danville man who has collaborated with UC Berkeley air-safety researchers.

Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger was the right person to help passengers survive a crisis, said Karlene Roberts, a friend and UC Berkeley professor who co-directs the school’s Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, which researches ways to avoid airline tragedies.

“I can imagine him being sufficiently in charge to get those people out,” Roberts said. “He’s got that kind of personality, which is to his credit.”

Sullenberger, who could not immediately be reached, has attended conferences about airline safety and has long been interested in the subject, she said.

He lives in Danville with his wife and two children, Roberts said.

The Associated Press reported that Sullenberger, 58, described himself in an online professional profile as a 29-year employee of US Airways. He started his own consulting business, Safety Reliability Methods Inc., two years ago.

Just a few hours after the crash two Facebook fan pages had been created to express support and appreciation for “Sully,” with people from San Francisco to Japan calling the pilot “a living legend” and “a true hero.”

Outside the Sullenberger home in Danville, news crews were lined up before 5 p.m. Camera crews and reporters from CNN and all the local TV affiliates waited outside the two-story home near Blackhawk for some word.

A family friend, Margaret Combs emerged from the house: “Everybody is very proud of him, ” she told the gathered reporters, but said that his wife was not speaking to the press.

“The U.S. Airways legal team told his wife not to say anything, it’s still under investigation,” said Combs, adding that Sullenberger’s wife “was still pretty shaky. She’s watching it on CNN.”

As phones could be heard ringing in the house, Combs said the families’ lines have been ringing off the hook with calls and interview requests from the New York Times, the “Today Show” and elsewhere.

Neighbor John Garcia added his praises to Sullenberger:

“He’s a really nice guy, a little bit quiet. He’s a very friendly man, he loves what he does. It doesn’t surprise me ….Some people are very good at what they do.

“The attention is well deserved, he’s a hero. We in this country need more heroes. He did the right thing,” Garcia said.

Roberts said she was looking forward to speaking with Sullenberger to find out how he managed the crisis. Many times, airline crashes go terribly wrong very quickly, she said.

“Often it’s a lack of leadership,” she said. “Things climb up on one another when they start going wrong.

“I would think they’re going to find some things went very well this time.”

Associated Press said that Sullenberger reported shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport that birds had knocked out both of the plane’s engines. He managed to guide the plane to a landing on the frigid Hudson River and all 155 people on board were pulled to safety as the plane slowly sank.

“We had a miracle on 34th Street. I believe now we have had a miracle on the Hudson,” Gov. David Paterson said.

One victim suffered two broken legs, a paramedic said, but there were no other reports of serious injuries.

The plane, an Airbus A320 bound for Charlotte, N.C., was submerged up to its windows in the river when rescuers arrived in Coast Guard vessels and ferries. Some passengers waited in water up to their knees, standing on the wing of the plane for help.

Police drivers had to rescue some of the passengers from underwater, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Among those on board was one infant who appeared to be fine, the mayor said.

The crash took place on a 20-degree day, one of the coldest of the season in New York. State environmental officials estimated the water was 41 degrees.

“It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river, and then making sure everybody got out,” Bloomberg said.

Passenger Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn., said he heard a single explosion two or three minutes into the flight. He said looked out the left side of the plane and saw one of the engines on fire.

“The captain said, ‘Brace for impact because we’re going down,'” Kolodjay said. He added: “It was intense. It was intense. You’ve got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing.”

Witnesses said the plane’s pilot appeared to guide the plane down. Bob Read, a television producer who saw the crash from his office window, said it appeared to be a “controlled descent.”

Bank of America and Wells Fargo said they had employees on the plane. Charlotte is a major banking center.

The Federal Aviation Administration says there were about 65,000 bird strikes to civil aircraft in the United States from 1990 to 2005, or about one for every 10,000 flights.

“They literally just choke out the engine and it quits,” said Joe Mazzone, a retired Delta Air Lines pilot. He said air traffic control towers routinely alert pilots if there are birds in the area.

The Hudson crash took place almost exactly 27 years after an Air Florida plane bound for Tampa crashed into the Potomac River just after takeoff from Washington National Airport, killing 78 people. Five people on that flight survived.

On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people. That was the first major crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner mistakenly took off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Ky.

Material from the Associated Press is included in this story. Bay Area News Group reporter Sophia Kazmi also contributed to this story. Matt Krupnick covers higher education. Reach him at 925-943-8246 or mkrupnick@bayareanewsgroup.com.